ERWIN – It has been decades since the West Greene boys have played for district championship, but after holding off Hampton on Saturday night the Buffaloes will have a chance to capture the league title.
West Greene never trailed on Friday, but the win certainly did not come easy as the Buffaloes took down top seeded Hampton 57-52 in the District 1-2A Tournament semifinals at Unicoi County High School.
“This one feels great,” West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said. “Leading for 32 minutes is insanely tough. I don’t think people understand how hard that is. To stay locked in on defense was really impressive. We knew Hampton was a scrappy team and a very talented team. There were a few times at the end where I wanted to pull my hair out, but we found a way to win. To put ourselves in the district championship game and to mark off one of those goals we set at the beginning of the season feels great.”
The win sets up an all Greene County final on Tuesday night as the Buffaloes will try to unseat two-time defending champion South Greene at 8 p.m. The win also ensures West Greene will play at home on Saturday in the first round of the Region 1-2A Tournament.
“I’m really looking forward to Tuesday. I’m pumped right now,” Tolliver said. “These guys have put the work in and improved by leaps and bounds this year. It has to feel good for these guys to be the class that got to this point. This is a special group.”
The Buffaloes used the outside shot to storm out the gate on Saturday and they quickly took control. By the midway point of the first quarter West Greene hit from long range four times for a 14-4 lead. Braden McCamey opened things up with a transition triple from the top of the key. On the next possession Sam Wisecarver drove the lane and dished to McCamey in the corner for his third trey of the period.
At the 2:30 mark McCamey crossed over his defender and launched a step-back triple for the biggest lead of the night at 17-6. McCamey hit from deep four times in the first quarter and finished with 18 points.
At the horn Elijah Williams put back a miss to give West Greene a 21-13 lead.
“We knew we had to start fast,” Tolliver said. “You can’t let them jump out to a 10-point lead, that is what we have done against them the first two times. Hopefully these guys learn that if we open up the game it becomes a lot easier to control things.”
Hampton began to lock down the perimeter in the second quarter and West Greene took a while to find an answer. With 3:27 left in the first half Chase Davenport drove the lane and scored through contact. The free throw that followed was true and West Greene’s advantage shrank to 26-25.
West Greene’s Conner Campbell came down the baseline for a layup and then Ayden Lamons made two at the foul line to push the lead to 32-27.
West Greene took a 32-29 lead into halftime.
With 5:19 left in the third quarter Tuff Robinson scored three points the hard way to even the score at 34-34. The Bulldogs tied the game again at 38-38 when Jamie Turbyfill knocked down a jumper from the elbow.
McCamey got West Greene going again with a quick turnaround from the block and then and up-and-under layup in a 10-second span. The quarter closed with Lamons slipping a pass to Campbell in the corner for a triple that put the Buffs on top 47-44.
In the fourth quarter West Greene’s defense tightened up and only allowed eight points. On offense it controlled the tempo and ran the clock down. Holding a one-point lead they ran a minute off the clock before Campbell dropped in a runner from an open lane for a 53-50 lead with 1:54 remaining.
With 38 seconds left and the Buffs running more time off the clock Hampton had to foul five times to get to the bonus. Once they were finally able to send West Greene to the free-throw line Campbell and McCamey went a perfect 4-for-4 at the stripe to secure the 57-52 win.
Campbell also scored 18 points for West Greene and Lamons had 13 points. Robinson scored 19 points for Hampton and Davenport put in 18 points.
